Monthly Archives: March 2012

Fortune Red

1 Comment Posted by on March 13, 2012

Before I started this blog, I would have told you that there’s only one fortune teller in Disneyland and it’s Esmeralda at the Penny Arcade on Main Street. But now I know better! Not only is there the genie lamp in Adventureland (who told me I was going to win the Superbowl–I want my 50 cents back), there’s also Fortune Red in New Orleans Square. He’s an old pirate hidden away by the Pieces of Eight shop.

The skull on the top is my favorite part

 

Fortune Red looks pretty much exactly like the other pirates in Pirates of the Caribbean, if the other pirates in Pirates of the Caribbean were unceremoniously chopped in half and shoved into a glass box.

"Yar, it's a little claustrophobic in here"

Just like the other pirates in the Pirates of the Caribbean, he fixes you with his unearthly stare as his head kind of moves back and forth with no apparent purpose other than “thanks for putting 50 cents in!” His finger hovers over his map and makes hasty jerking motions, as if he really wanted to tell you where the treasure is but he can’t quite remember himself. And over all this, a short version of “A Pirate’s Life for Me” plays.

It’s all kind of odd, really.

And then your fortune pops out.

This reminds me of a parking ticket dispenser

 

I used my cell phone to take a picture of my fortune:

"In your future, I see you typing all of this out for your blog..."

 

It says:

FORTUNE RED has this to say: Ye sails yer ship with a steady helm and a weather eye out fer the luff o’ the sails. Though lackin’ in formal book learnin’, ’tis with a will ye worked to develop a keen mind. Ye would leave no sail furled to help a mate in need, and the deeds o’ yer generous nature sparkle like the twinklin’ lights at Disneyland on a warm summer night. Devoted, ye be, to yer kin–but b’lay! Ye may be generous to a fault. Mark well me words: Generosity consists less in givin’ much, than in givin’ wisely.

I’m not 100% sure what this is, but I think I’m flattered? I sail my ship with a steady helm, okay. I’m lacking in formal book learning–hmmm, I have a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, and will complete another master’s in July (provided I survive to the end of the semester), so I’d say Mr. Red has some pretty high standards there. Also I’m a snob and an elitist. And also, I’m helpful to friends in need and my generosity lights up the night like a million iterations of the Main Street Electrical Parade (paraphrasing). However, perhaps I should give less and give wisely.

I’m trying to think of something profound to say here, but Mr. Red has left me kind of uninspired.

But just when I was tempted to regret spending my 50 cents, I flipped the card over:

A brief history of pirate flags

Yes, in case you’re not satisfied with your rather ill-suited fortune (except the part about my generosity lighting up the sky like the 9:25pm showing of Remember…Dreams Come True) (paraphrasing), you get a brief lesson in the Jolly Roger. Or as the card puts it, the JOLLY ROGER. From the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN.

And also some pirate quick tips:

When the skull and crossbones flew from the maintopmast of a pirate ship, it was an indication to the intended victims that they were willing to give quarter. If they were opposed, it was replaced with the bloody red flag which meant: No mercy.

So no red flag means you’ve still got a shot. And also, how much do I love the word “maintopmast”? Can we bring that back into standard usage, please?

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Aladdin’s Oasis?

14 Comments Posted by on March 9, 2012

Once upon a time, there was the Tahitian Terrace. Located in Adventureland between the Tiki Room and the Jungle Cruise, the Tahitian Terrace was a splendid outdoor dining show. Or so they say, since despite being in operation for more than 30 years and despite my growing up in Southern California, I never once ate there. Or even knew it existed.

In my defense, for years and years we only went once a year on a private company night and as such, there were many things that didn’t operate at that time of day and year. Like the Explorer Canoes or the fact that you can actually go to the island in the middle of the Rivers of America. I was in high school and there in the middle of the day when I was like “What? You can row your own canoe? Since when???” and people were like “since always?” But whatever.

Anyway, never ate at the Tahitian Terrace. And when the Tahitian Terrace closed and was replaced by Aladdin’s Oasis, I never ate there either. More defendable on that front, since apparently Aladdin’s Oasis was only an actual dinner show for two seasons, both of which occurred when I was in college in the Midwest (where incidentally, I did paddle my own canoe down a river, but that’s a whole other story).

So basically, my entire experience with this location has involved walking past it saying, “is that a restaurant? I’ve never seen it open.”

That person in the foreground in black is thinking, "Is that a restaurant? I've never seen it open."

 

Well it’s not a restaurant anymore. Let me just put that issue to rest. Apparently for a while it was used as a storytelling location. If this is still the case, I wouldn’t know, because I’ve never seen it open.

Quite lovely

 

The entrance is delightfully-themed. The colors are bright, the building is detailed, and it’s all-around a lovely place. It even has a lovely courtyard.

It's actually kind of romantic back here

 

But the only thing I’ve ever seen it used for is this:

Jasmine

 

An Aladdin meet and greet. It’s always so weird, because the entranceway is lush and decorated and you really feel like any second now it could open up and be come kind of restaurant or show, or both. It doesn’t look neglected or forgotten, it just sits there, totally unused, except for a sporadic meet and greet location. Go figure.

I do hope that one day they’ll reopen the main area. I know that it shares kitchen space in the back with what is now the Jolly Holiday Bakery. I wonder if they’ll ever do anything with it? Until then, it just sort of stands there making people think “Is that a restaurant? I’ve never seen it open.”

Adventureland

Rest In Peace, Robert B. Sherman

1 Comment Posted by on March 6, 2012

The world lost a Disney icon today–Robert B. Sherman who, along with his brother, wrote scores of songs for classic Disney music including Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Jungle Book, and the Aristocats. He also wrote a song I love–yes, LOVE–It’s A Small World. According to news reports, Mr. Sherman died peacefully at home. He was 87. His music will always be a part of my childhood memories. Thoughts and prayers go out to Mr. Sherman’s friends and family.

To celebrate Mr. Sherman, I’m reprinting my post on the Pearly Band, a wonderful music celebration of Mary Poppins.

 

So let’s file this one under the “things I never knew existed” category! Theo and I were coming through the castle after the Superman Ad incident, and saw a brightly colored band marching through.

They circled and then lined up in formation. I checked my Entertainment Guide and it made no mention of brightly-colored musicians gathering in front of the castle, so of course in the interest of this blog, I stopped to listen.

Also, Theo seemed interested so why not?

I cleverly discerned their name by reading the drum. Because I’m smart like that.

If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll know that 3 minutes on Google is my standard at-home research methodology (if you’re new to the blog, my standard at-home research methodology is 3 minutes on Google), and according to my research, the Pearly band follows the traditions of London’s pearly kings and queens. I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean, since I’ve been to London a couple of times and I have NEVER seen any royalty dressed up like this playing instruments. But, you know, it’s Disneyland, so I’ll go with that. Apparently the “pearly” part refers to the mother-of-pearl buttons on their natty outfits.

When Mary Poppins arrived, it made a LOT more sense. Because there’s a pearly band in Mary Poppins, and apparently Disneyland has had their own Pearly Band since the movie released.

That’s one movie I really should see again, by the way.

Anyway, Mary Poppins immediately came over and started shaking hands with all of the waiting children.

Sadly I was so unprepared for this turn of events that I failed to get into a good position to see Mary Poppins shaking hands with my own child. Instead, in my panic, I ended up with this:

Geez.

Anyway, when Bert came out with his portable chimney sweep vehicle, I knew we were in for a treat.

After wheeling in his chimney sweeping cart, since apparently 47 Disney years later Bert’s still stuck in an archaic manual labor job, Bert joined with Mary for a jolly holiday.

They joined with the Pearly Band leader to sing a song, which I can’t remember because I’m writing this entry a week after the visit to Disneyland took place. Blogger fail.

There were more musical numbers, and then Bert revealed that his “trash can” was actually a cleverly-disguised banner holder/retractor, reading Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Mary tried to get everyone to sing along, but she thwarted her own efforts by standing in front of the word we were supposed to be singing. Lucky for her, everyone in the crowd seemed to know it anyway.

Then the fun went into high gear as Mary and Bert selected a few children from the audience and gave them each a chimney sweeper.

The kids actually did a fabulous job of keeping up with Bert and Mary.

Mary led the children around the Pearly Band as a grand finale.

All in all, it was a wonderfully pleasant surprise to happen upon a performance I never even knew existed at Disneyland. I have to say, that’s one thing I’m loving about writing this blog–there’s just so much I never paid attention to!

Everything Else, Fantasyland , , ,

Goofy’s House–The House of Goof?

3 Comments Posted by on March 5, 2012

Once upon a time, Disneyland ended at Small World. I mean, the onstage area ended at Small World. And then they put in Toontown. Now let me just be honest here, Toontown is the area I spent the least amount of time in. Partly because it’s all the way in the back of the part and I’m exceedingly lazy, but also because there’s not a lot of shade and it always feels like 15 degrees hotter back there than anywhere else.

And with that ringing endorsement...

The nice thing about Toontown is that it’s kind of like Little Kid Land, and there’s a lot for little kids to do and explore.

I’ve already covered Mickey’s House and Minnie’s House, but did you know that Goofy and Donald live there too?

Fact: Goofy and Donald live there too.

Goofy’s house is conveniently adjacent to a play area, which really comes in handy when you have a toddler who needs to blow off some energy. Like I do. Have a toddler, I mean, not energy to blow off. I wish I did though.

And a play area. I kind of wish I had a play area.

Theo loved the play area.

He's a big fan of slides.

Goofy’s house is rather ramshackle, unsurprisingly.

Goofy's house, kind of, behind the tree.

And in case you wonder why I don’t cover more attractions when I’ve got the kid along, it’s because while I was taking the above picture, this happened:

STOP THAT TODDLER!!

The lesson here is clearly to dress your child in a brightly-colored shirt so that when you are done taking pictures of other things, you can locate him later.

Or just put the camera down and run after him, like I did.

Anyway, Goofy’s house has an entrance onto the play area.

Is that some sort of lighthouse architecture?

And I’ll be honest. While there is some elaborate decorating inside, Goofy’s house was a pretty big disappointment, especially compared to Mickey’s and Minnie’s houses. There’s basically one big room, and if you look up you see this:

I have an intense fear of sharks, but this one does make me laugh.

Here’s an awkward angle:

I was going for an artsy, forced-perspective shot here. Right.

But mostly Goofy’s house is one big room, and not all that populated either. There’s the piano:

Theo did love banging on it

And some sort of wardrobe/cabinet/spinner toy thing:

Great and all, but we actually kind of have one of those spinner things at the park across the street, and that's free.

And classic Goofy art on the walls:

Ah, the good old days

While I’m being honest, it’s really kind of underwhelming. Theo did have a good time, and I liked just kicking back and watching him  knock things over and terrorize other little kids  play, but it wasn’t nearly as good as Mickey’s or Minnie’s house.

Which kind of makes you feel bad for the old Goof. I mean, he’s always kind of getting the short end of the stick. It’s not his fault he’s that tall. Or that he’s some kind of weird talking dog when Pluto gets to be a regular dog. It can’t be easy wearing patched, ill-fitting clothing. Not to mention that hat. But somehow, Goofy pulls it off, so we applaud him.

No idea where he sleeps though. On the floor?

UPDATE: Reader Amber informs me that Goofy’s house used to be a bounce house! I HAD NO IDEA!!! It’s too bad they took the bounce part out. That would be really cool.

 

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